I found a few tutorials on how to create a local copy of an existing WordPress installation, but they were all very slightly off for someone using MAMP. I first got MAMP when I was learning how to install WordPress locally and since it works great, I didn’t want to install another local server environment.

Anyway, on to the instructions:

Exporting Your WordPress Database

1. Log in to phpMyAdmin through your host (usually in the cPanel). I use lunarpages so I’ll tell you how to get there on their site:
   <!–– Dave Hubler kindly left a comment on a slight difference for those using limedomains as their host. Thanks, broseph. ––>
   1. Log in by clicking the link in the header.
   2. Make sure you have the right hosting account selected in the drop-down menu and click Control Panel. If you have more than one hosting account, you’ll have to click the “Go to cPanel” button.
   3. Click on MySQL Databases among all the icons and scroll all the way to the bottom and click on the “phpMyAdmin” link.
2. Select the WordPress database from the sidebar on the left. Remember this database name for a future step.



3. Click the Export tab at the top, make sure everything is selected in the box on the left, the SQL radio button is selected, and the Data checkbox to the right is checked. Select the Save as file checkbox and click Go.

Importing Your WP Database into Your Local Copy

1. Download, install, and open MAMP if you haven’t already.
2. Using your FTP client, copy your site’s root folder to /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/
3. Go to the MAMP Start Page and click on phpMyAdmin.
   <!-- NOTE -->
   If for some reason MAMP didn’t start the servers and open the start page upon launch, do so now by clicking the buttons in the UI.
4. On the phpMyAdmin homepage there is an option to create a new database. Enter the database name from step 2 in Exporting Your WordPress Database and click Create.
5. Click on the new database in the sidebar on the left then choose the Import tab at the top.



6. Click Browse and select the database file you downloaded earlier. Click Go in the bottom left.

Setting Up Your Username and Password for Your Local Database

1. Go to the homepage of your local phpMyAdmin and choose Privileges from the MySQL column on the left.
2. Click Add a new User under the list of existing users.
3. Enter your username and password from the remote database.
   <!-- NOTE -->
   If you don’t remember your username and password, open your wp-config file and get the info there.
4. For Host, choose Local if the host in your wp-config file is localhost. Otherwise, choose Any.
5. Click Check All under Global privileges and click Go.

Setting the Proper URL

1. Go to the homepage of your local phpMyAdmin and choose your database from the column on the left.
2. Select Browse next to the table wp_options.



3. Find the option_name siteurl and click the corresponding edit link. Change the option_value to http://localhost:8888/root_folder_name and click Go.
   <!-- NOTE -->
   If using something other than MAMP, you’ll probably have to type http://localhost/root_folder_name



4. Find the option_name home and set the option_value to the same as you did for siteurl.

That should be it!

Make sure MAMP is running and check http://localhost:8888/root_folder_name (or http://localhost/root_folder_name) to see your local site.